An Innocent Promise
by justanoutlaw
Summary: Henry is 4-years-old the first time he sees his mother cry.
1. Chapter 1

**Prompted by her-majesty-wears-jeans: . Tiny Henry comforting Regina, maybe after seeing her cry for the first time or a bad nightmare or something?**

"If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever."-A.A Milne

Henry is 4 years old the first time he sees his mother cry and it surprises him.

His mom is a superhero, the person who can kiss a cut and make it better, who knows how he likes his sandwiches and can read stories better than anyone. Even when she's tired, she comes home and plays with him for hours. She'll get dirty with him to make mud pies or run around at the park. Superheroes are tough, superheroes don't cry.

Yet, there she is, tears streaming down her face as their door slams shut. Mr. Jefferson had been over, again. Whenever the man came over, his mom lost her smile and she wasn't nice to him like she was with Henry. She said it was because he wasn't the nicest man. This time, Mr. Jefferson had gotten very angry with his mother, so angry he shouted some mean words.

"One day this will all be over and you'll lose your son, just as I did my daughter."

Henry is unsure of what to do at first as his mom stands there, frozen in place. He tries to think about what she does whenever he's sad. He goes into the living room and grabs his favorite teddy bear, heading back over to her and pulling on her pant leg. Regina looks down and her eyes widen.

"Here, Mommy," Henry says, thrusting the bear up to her. "He'll help you feel better."

Regina's face softens and she drops down to his height, putting a hand on his cheek.

"I'm fine, my little prince."

"You're crying. Why?"

"It's silly."

"Is it 'cause Mr. Jefferson yelled at you?"

She shakes her head. "No, I can handle silly Mr. Jefferson yelling at me, he just said something that got me thinking." She forced a small smile on her face. "One day, I'm going to lose you, you'll leave me."

"I'm never gonna leave you, Mommy! I'll stay with you forever and ever!"

He throws his arms around her neck and Regina hugs him in return, stroking his neck as he buries his head into her own. The tears continue to fall, but she tries to collect herself before he can see. The words are ones probably said to every parent throughout a child's life and every parent knows that it's not true, that one day they'll grow up, spread their wings and fly. Yet, they'll always come back.

Yet, Regina fears for the day that Henry will discover who she used to be, how exactly they all live in the town they do. That one day, he'll look at her the way everyone else used to. In that moment, he views her as mommy, his hero. One day, he'll look at her like the Evil Queen. The love that he carries in his eyes will vanish and the thought of losing the one person who believes in her sours her stomach.

"Do you promise me?" She whispers, allowing herself to feel vulnerable. "That we'll always be together?"

"I promise," Henry says, pulling apart to wrap his tiny pinky around her own.

She nods and forces the smile to come back on her face again. He decides to make her something in his play kitchen to cheer her up and runs off to do so. Regina gets up off the floor and brushes off her pants, blinking her eyes until all the tears fall away.


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to do a follow up to this based off on an ask I got today about how Henry discovered he was adopted. A few headcanons were tossed around on the thread, but this was mine. Also ties into a response I got to the last chapter where someone pointed out that Henry's promise would stay with her during this tough time.**

It was a promise that lasted 6 years.

For 6 years, Regina clung to her only hope, the one bright thing in her life: Henry. Sure, she had the town and the victory of knowing that they were suffering, but it wasn't enough. He was the reason why she still felt a little light in her heart. As long as she still had him, things would be okay.

Then the damn family tree project came about.

It was an average afternoon in the Mills' household. Regina had gotten all of her paperwork done and didn't have any meetings, so she was able to pick up Henry from the bus stop, right on schedule. There was something off about him from the minute he got in the car, but she shook it off at first. He was 10-years-old, they were sure to go through bouts of moodiness. So, when he didn't answer questions of how his day was, she chalked it up to that.

When they got home, Henry didn't head up to his room like he normally did for homework. Instead, he stood in the entry way, staring at his mom with a mix of emotions in his eyes, ones she had never seen before.

"Henry, is everything okay?" Regina asked.

"You didn't tell me," he mumbled. His voice is so low, she almost missed it.

"Didn't tell you what?"

"That I was adopted."

Regina froze in place, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She had made a decision, years ago, that Henry could never know the truth. Part of it was to protect him. Whoever gave him up clearly didn't care about him, they had tossed him to the side, not even caring to see if he got a good home.

(Of course, at one point she had known the truth surrounding his adoption. That his biological mother had probably made the choices she had due to not having her own around, and that partially was her fault. But Regina had since drank a potion to forget all those things and she wouldn't know again until much later.)

The other part was selfish. If Henry knew he didn't come from her womb, there was a chance he would leave her. There was a chance that he would want to find where he came from. No, he was her son. She was the one that had changed all his diapers, clothed and fed him, soothed every nightmare and fever. Regina wasn't about to share the title of mother, especially not with some woman who hadn't even wanted any contact.

"Henry…I…"

"Miss Blanchard told me," Henry interrupted before she could lie.

Regina's anxiety partially turned to anger. Snow White. Of course. It wasn't as if Henry's adoption was a secret in town, but she had never worried about anyone telling him. Clearly, she should've thought better. This was the woman that had ruined her chance at happiness once.

Now here she was, screwing it up again.

"We're doing a family tree project for school," he continued. "Miss Blanchard told me it was okay if I could only fill out one half of it. I thought she meant because I don't have a dad, but then she said she figured I didn't know anything about my biological parents."

A slow breath escaped Regina's lips. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"Look, this doesn't have to change anything," she said, trying to go into crisis mode. "Miss Blanchard should've kept her mouth shut."

"It's not her fault. She thought I knew." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I guess she thought why would a mother lie to her son…but you're not even my mother."

"I am your mother!"

Regina's voice rose before she could help it and she saw a bit of the defiance leave his eyes. She tried to collect herself, as she always did when she lost her temper. She could care less how she made the residents feel, but this was her son, he needed to feel safe with her. He couldn't feel how she did with Mother.

"I may not have given birth to you," Regina said, her voice getting lower. "But I am your mother. I have raised you, I've taken care of you. Which is more than the woman who did give you life can say."

"Why did she give me up?"

"I don't know. She was probably young, couldn't be bothered with a child."

She didn't realize just how harsh her words were, to her, they were just the truth. From the moment she held Henry, she could never understand how someone could give up something so precious, so pure. It was always her loss.

"So, she didn't want me?" His voice came out broken and she could see the pain in his eyes.

"She gave you up for adoption." Regina knelt in front of him, putting her hand under his chin. "Listen, I don't know much about her, but I do know that I am your mom. I love you more than anything, giving birth to you, wouldn't have changed that. This woman doesn't matter, she's long gone. It's you and me, my sweet prince. Together, forever."

Henry looked deep into her eyes and the pain didn't drift away as she thought it would. The thought of having him in her life was enough to help her through every storm. A cold realization filled her. Was she not enough for him?

"You lied to me," he said. "You're not my real mom! I'm going to find her and then I'll go live with her!"

He pulled away from her and stormed up the stairs. Regina stayed in her spot, a single tear falling down her face. Deep down, she didn't believe he was going to find her biological mother. Time would fix this. She'd make him his favorite dinner, she'd buy him a video game and it'd all go away. He'd realize who his real mother was. He wouldn't want to find this woman.

Little did she know, that later that night, Henry would be searching for websites to find where he came from. He'd steal his teacher's credit card and off he'd go, to drag his biological mother into town.

Little by little, he'd pull away. He'd go to her, the woman who was never there…but also never lied to him. She'd never hurt him. She knew the only way to get her son back was to get rid of her, but nothing seemed to work.

"I want to be with her," he told her, more than once.

And it took all Regina had to not drop her façade of the tough mayor and turn back into that vulnerable woman he had seen 6 years prior.

It took all she had not to whisper…"But you _promised_."


End file.
